USA > West Virginia > Summers County > History of Summers County from the earliest settlement to the present time > Part 8
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This decision may be law, but it is inequitable and unjust. The commissioners voted for their respective counties, and the umpire decided it. So that Summers County to-day is not occupying all of the territory granted to it from Monroe and Greenbrier Coun- ties in the Act which created it. However, in running the recog- nized line, Summers ganed a narrow strip of additional territory between the point at "Wallowhole Mountain" and Greenbrier River, and a few residences were cut off to Summers which had theretofo. e been recognized as located in Greenbrier County. So that Summers, by the loss of this territory, has not now within its limits the 400 square miles required by the Constitution ; but it has no remedy, as it slept on its rights by permitting the lapse of a long period of time between the date of its formation and the date of calling the matter in question. Summers County was de- feated upon the grounds, as announced by Mr. Price, the final ar- bitrator, that the old line having been acquiesced in for a great many years, Summers County could not, after this lapse of more than twenty years after its formation to the date of the institu- tion of the proceedings, come in and take a disputed territory. It having recognized the present lines during all those years, could not come in and disturb the existing conditions, although the stat- ute of limitations was not applicable to the case. There was no appeal from this decision, and the matter thus ended.
The long lapse of time was the one question of which the at- torneys for Summers were fearful, and this only defeated us. It was only by accident that it was discovered that we did not have jurisdiction over our full territory, and this grew out of the un- certainty as to where the people in the adjacent recognized lines should send their children to school; and it was for that reason
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
that Mr. Harvey, the Surveyor, was authorized by the County Court to survey the line between Greenbrier and Summers; and in order to locate that line properly, it was necessary for him to run from New River, on the Fayette County line, to the top of the Wallowhole Mountain; thence to Greenbrier River, and thence the line between Monroe and Summers, to the Round Bottom, on New River.
Having gone on a tangent, we will now proceed with the sub- ject of this chapter, however, in an irregular and divergent man- ner.
Summers is almost exclusively an agricultural county ; its sur- face is mountainous and table-land. The bottom land is largely confined to the New River and Greenbrier River valleys, with some flat land on the large creeks, there being some very fertile and good, productive bottom lands on Lick Creek, in the Green Sulphur Springs neighborhood: also, in the Wolf Creek valley, Bradshaw's Run, Indian Creek and Bluestone. The valleys are narrow, the soil underlaid with sandstone; there being very little limestone in the county, although there is some in the hills near Hinton-"bastard" limestone-and some in the Talcott district, adjacent to the Monroe County line, and possibly a little in For- est Hill. No part of the county can be designated as blue grass or limestone territory.
There is a very fine quarry of sandstone at New Richmond, on the John A. Richmond homestead farm, which was developed and used by the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company for a num- ber of years, for which they paid $50.00 per annum royalty to Mr. Richmond. The stone was secured from this quarry through Dr. Samuel Williams and W. K. Pendleton, which was placed in the Washington Monument at Washington, D. C., and which is known as the West Virginia stone, upon which is inscribed the following patriotic inscription : "Tuum nos sumus monumentum."
The stone from this quarry was used in the construction of the extensive grain elevators at Newport News: but the quarry has been abandoned for the last few years. Two quarries of very fine brownstone have been developed in the county, opened up, and a considerable amount of stone shipped to foreign markets for com- mercial purposes. The stone is very substantial, and is of a beau- tiful red brown color. The basement of the brick Methodist Church in Hinton, as well as the foundation for the Kanawha Val- ley Bank at Charleston, are built of this stone, secured from the quarry at Tug Creek. One of these quarries is located on Grif-
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
fith's Creek, in the upper end of Talcott district, about two and a half or three miles from the town of Alderson. and is owned by the Alderson Brownstone Company, a joint stock company, composed principally of capitalists residing at Richmond, Virginia.
Dr. W. L. Barksdale, now of Hinton, then of Alderson, was one of the principal promoters of this enterprise, and is still one of the principal stockholders and an officer of the company, and largely through his and Judge W. G. Hudgins' enterprise the com- pany was formed. The stone was transported from the quarry to the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad by means of a narrow-gauge railroad, laid with steel rails, crossing Greenbrier River by boat, on which the cars were run. No business in the way of quarrying and shipping stone from this plant has been conducted for sev- eral years, the work having been abandoned by reason of the ex- pensive transportation facilities. J. D. Crump, Esq., of Richmond, Va., was the president of the company, and Mr. Wm. Houseby, who still resides on the premises, general manager. T. N. Read, Esq., the Hinton attorney, was at one time a clerk for this com- pany on Griffith's Creek.
The other quarry is located about a mile and a half below Hin- ton, on the hill above Tug Creek, and is now owned by Mr. M. N. Breen. The company which operated it a few years ago was a Kentucky joint stock corporation, of which Mr. Charles McDon- ald, of Covington, Ky., and Mr. Scanlon, of Indiana, and one Mr. Thornton, also of Indiana, were the chief owners and promoters. They placed in the plant very extensive and expensive machinery for quarrying and manufacturing the stone. They operated a saw. by which the rough stone was sawed into any desired sizes and shapes. The stone was used for building, ornamental sidewalk, paving and other purposes in Hinton, but not extensively : the principal part of the product being shipped, by way of the Chesa- peake & Ohio Railway, to foreign markets in the large cities of the United States. The stone was quarried in the rough near the top of the hill, and let down Tug Creek by steel tramway or incline several hundred yards long, by wire cables operated by steam en- gines and drums.
Mr. Charles McDonald, of Covington, Ky., the principal owner, becoming financially involved, the plant having cost about $75,000. the property was sold under legal process for debt and taxes, and the lands, consisting of about 100 acres, were purchased by Mr. Breen for the nominal sum of $50, and he is now the owner. Mr. R. R. Flanagan, of the city of Hinton, lost about $1,500 by the
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
collapse of this enterprise, having become an accommodation en- dorser for Mr. McDonald.
The county is naturally a very rough and broken country, mountainous, with high and rocky hills and deep and rough ra- vines, with considerable uplands or plateaus; and while the county is rough and broken, mountainous and rocky, a very large proportion of it is in cultivation, and the inhabitants are scattered all over the mountains and hills, steep mountains and hillsides being in cultivation, which, to a Western farmer, would seem en- tirely impracticable and unprofitable.
The principal products of the soil are Indian corn, wheat, some rye, some buckwheat, potatoes, oats and grass. There are no developed mines in the county at this time, and no minerals of value have been discovered. There is no coal opening in the county except on the Flat Top region and on the White Oak Mountain, and in proximity to the Raleigh and Mercer County lines. There is evidence of coal in this section, and some veins have been opened, but not worked. The nearest coal mine in oper- ation is at Quinimont, in Fayette County, a distance of some twenty-one miles. There is also some coal on the Hump Mountain, very high up, near the top.
There have been two wells drilled in the county prospecting for gas and oil-one on Crump's Bottom, which was drilled to a depth of about 3,000 feet, and in which gas was found in consid- erable quantities. The well was drilled by Philadelphia and Penn- sylvania capitalists, who owned it, and it has been plugged ever since its completion, which was some fifteen years ago. The other well was drilled on Riffe's Bottom, on the farm of the Hon. M. M. Warren, to a depth of 2,100 feet. This well was drilled by a local joint stock company, of which Mr. Warren was the president, and Jas. H. Miller was secretary and treasurer. A contract was made with a man by the name of Caverly to place the well at $1.45 a foot. Caverly went down to the depth of about 2,000 feet, and becoming dissatisfied with his contract, although he had been paid all that was due him, he surreptitiously filled the hole with scrap iron and left the country, and has never been heard of from that time. It was the intention of the projectors to drill the well 3,000 feet. Additional money was raised and a new contractor se- cured, who spent some $2,000 in attempting to clear out the whole so as to proceed with the work. He never succeeded, and the hole was abandoned and the machinery sold out under a deed of trust. In drilling this well, fine sulphur water, similar to the
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
Pence's Spring sulphur water, was discovered, and also some gas; but, so far as the interested parties know, there were no indications of oil. This sulphur spring is intermittent, flowing between cer- tain hours each day.
There is what is called a "burning spring" on Madam's Creek, about two miles from Hinton, and also one on Beach Run, about one mile from Hinton. Experts claim that the indications are fa- vorable for the discovery of oil and gas in this county, but none has to this time been found for utility purposes. At these two burning springs, when the water is cleaned out, the gas will burn by igniting it with a lighted match. One of the burning springs is now owned by Dr. J. F. Bigony -- that on Madam's Creek. It is located near the old J. J. Charlton Mill; and the other is on the land of Benton and John W. Parker.
The principal mountains of Summers County are Keeney's Knob, which is a spur of the Allegheny Mountains, and was named after David Keeney, who settled at its base, and its top was the county line between Greenbrier and Monroe before the separation. The highest point on this mountain is on the county line between Summers and Greenbrier, and known as "Stinson's Knob" (the correct name being Stevenson's Knob, it being thus named after an early settler near Clayton, by the name of Stevenson).
The next highest point is known as the Elk Knob, about nine miles from Hinton Court House, and is 2,500 feet above the level of the sea. Here lives Peter Wyant, a prosperous farmer.
New River was a few years ago a fine fishing stream, and was celebrated for its "New River cat," of which there are none better, and the water therein was clear; but for the past ten years it has lost its prestige as a fishing stream by reason of its waters becom- ing always of a muddy, murky color, caused by the washing of iron ore in its waters or tributaries in Virginia, and without the jurisdiction of this commonwealth. State legislative action has been taken to enjoin the destruction of this stream, as well as Congressional ; but no efforts have been successful, so far, and its waters remain unrestored to their original purity. Large catfish are yet occasionally caught weighing thirty to forty pounds.
Greenbrier River was named by John Lewis, the father of Gen- eral Andrew Lewis, who, in company with his son Andrew, while exploring the country in 1751, entangled himself in a bunch of green briers on the river margin, and he then decided that he would ever after call the stream "Greenbrier River." Greenbrier River runs through the county from the Monroe and Greenbrier lines
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
below Alderson to Hinton, a distance of eighteen miles. The prin- cipal town on this river in this county is Talcott, a village of about 300 population.
Big Bluestone is the next largest stream, which flows into New River six miles south of Hinton. It is a rough mountain stream of considerable size, large enough for floating logs during fresh- ets, but not more than half the size of Greenbrier. On this stream was located the famous old water mill of Mr. Levi M. Neely, once owned by the Crumps. It is a burrh mill, with old-fashioned bolting clothes, and grinds the year around. Mr. Neely has been the miller for many years, and before he became the half-owner with ex-Sheriff W. S. Lilly, and is very popular with the people in that region. The mill has a large custom, by reason of its being able to run and grind the year around, the dry season not affecting it. We are unable to give the date of the construction of this old land- mark, but it was many years before the war. At the head of this river are great coal deposits and operations in Mercer County.
Bluestone runs from the Mercer County line through the county to New. River, probably fifteen or twenty miles. A railroad was about thirty years ago surveyed up this river, but abandoned. There is some talk of a branch of the Deepwater coming down that stream, but no surveys have been made to its mouth.
About 1876, William James, of Pennsylvania, who afterwards became a citizen of this county, constructed an extensive boom and dam at the Charles Clark place, just above the mouth of Blue- stone. After using them for a number of years they were aban- doned and permitted to decay. as they moved their works down the river, and no indications now exist to show of the once enterprises being conducted there. A thriving industry at one time was car- ried on at the mouth of Bluestone, in the shipment of lumber, to- bacco, etc., all of which have been abandoned.
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Tom's Run empties into New River at the west end of Crump's Bottom, at the foot of Shockley's Hill. Lick Creek and Island Creek are the two principal streams in the upper end of Pipestem district, on which there are located good farms. The mouth of Lick Creek has been the site of mercantile establishments for forty or fifty years, principally conducted by Anderson Shumate, the fa- ther of the Hon. B. P. Shumate, then by his son Rufus H., and later by another son, Hon. B. P. Shumate, who owns the property and conducts a business at that point. Squire J. C. Peters con- ducted a store for the Shumates at that point for a number of years, and Jos. M. Meador, the present clerk of the County Court,
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
was merchandising at that place at the time of the election of J. M. Ayres as clerk of the County Court, when he became his dep- uty. He was merchandising in partnership with his uncle, B. P. Shumate. The name of the postoffice is Mercer Salt Works, named after the old salt-producing works of that name, a short distance from the river, which were destroyed and abandoned soon after "the war of the rebellion." Another postoffice was established some few years ago, some three miles from Mercer Salt Works, on the Lick Creek Hills, by the name of Tophet, which name would indicate a hot country. The Pipestem Creek empties into Blue- stone at its mouth, and extends back into the district, the head being a short distance from Pipestem Postoffice, the residence of Hon. B. P. Shumate.
The principal streams in Forest Hill district are Indian Creek and Bradshaw's Run. Indian Creek runs into New River oppo- site Crump's Bottom, and on which are situated Indian Mills Post- office and Junta, Junta being at the mouth, and Indian Mills two miles and a half therefrom, at which are located two fine mer- chant grist mills. Bradshaw's Run empties into Indian Creek at Indian Mills Postoffice. Wolf Creek empties into Greenbrier River. and forms the district lines between Forest Hill and Greenbrier. Tom's Run also empties into the Greenbrier below the present resi- dence of the county surveyor, Andrew L. Campbell, as does also "Dog Trot."
In Green Sulphur district the principal streams are Lick Creek. which heads in Keeney's Mountain, at a great spring, and is about fifteen miles long, and on which are located some of the best farms in the county, and the Green Sulphur Springs, Eleber Spring, which was once a famous buffalo lick. This section was entirely settled by the Millers, Duncans, Withrows and Gwinns, more than 100 years ago. Its principal tributaries are Mill Creek, on which the Hutchinson Mill is situated, and Slater's Fork and Flag Fork. these two latter emptying into Lick Creek at the old John Miller homestead. Slater's Creek is named after a man by the name of Slater, who settled in that region more than 100 years ago, but left no descendants, nor have we any traditions regarding him.
Meadow Creek empties into New River about a half a mile above the Fayette County line. The Fayette line is now marked by a post painted white, the county line there calling to run from New River through the Goddard house. The old Goddard house has long since been destroyed, but the remains of a stone chimney
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
designate its location. Laurel Creek empties into New River a mile below the falls, and has its source in Keeney's Knob.
Summers County territory includes the whole of New River, and extends to the banks on the opposite or Raleigh side. Big Creek and Powley's Creek are tributaries of the Greenbrier, and empty into it about five miles above its mouth. Little Bluestone River is a tributary of Big Bluestone, and heads in the Flat Top Mountains. It empties into Big Bluestone some four miles from its mouth, and is a small stream, about the size of Lick Creek. Laurel Creek is in Green Sulphur district, and heads near the top of Keeney's Mountain. It is a very rough, turbulent stream, nearly equal in size to Lick Creek. The Laurel Creek valley is a narrow valley, settled by farmers, the Dicks being the earliest settlers. The principal incident of historical importance was the drowning therein of a man during the war by the name of Adkins.
Captain Lorenzo D. Garten's company of Home Guards, an irregular organization of State troops, made an excursion during the war into the Chestnut Mountain country, ransacked the farm of Mr. L. M. Alderson, and others who lived on the mountain be- tween Lick Creek and Laurel Creek, in a low gap, carried away his horses, grain, bacon, bed clothes, overcoat, etc., as well as that of other farmers-Mr. Alderson being a rebel sympathizer. And on the return of these warriors, this man got on a horse behind 'Squire John Buckland, and undertook to ford Laurel Creek, the creek being out of its banks and unusually high from hard rains. The load being too much for the horse, he went down, and when he re- appeared one of the riders had washed off and was drowned.
There is situate within this county numerous sulphur springs and mineral springs. On Beech Run, near Hinton, is a fine alum spring, from which water has been taken for many miles, and is used for medicinal purposes. There is situate on the Elk Knob Mountain, on the farm of Clark Grimmett, a fine alum spring, from which he carries water to Hinton for the market.
The celebrated Green Sulphur Spring is situated on Lick Creek, at the junction of Mill Creek Fork with that stream, and is owned by Mr. Harrison Gwinn. In the first settlement of that section, more than 100 years ago, the place where that spring is located was celebrated as a lick for deer, buffalo and elk. After the prop- erty came into the ownership of Ephraim J. Gwinn, the father of Harrison Gwinn, he undertook to drill for salt, believing that there was salt under the surface, which he proceeded to do with an old- fashioned process about eighty years ago, using what is known as a
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
windlass. The process was very slow, but after proceeding indus- triously and persistently for a number of months, instead of strik- ing salt, he struck a fine stream of sulphur water, sixty-five feet below the surface. About twenty feet was through the soil, after which he struck, in drilling, hard sandstone. Into this hole, which was made some three feet in diameter, he sunk a large hollow syca- more tree, connecting with the hole through the rock, and the water comes through that tree to the surface, over which a stone basin has been erected. This tree has remained intact to the pres- ent time, and no doubt will remain until eternity. A piece of the timber taken from the bottom of this well in 1907 shows it to be as sound and harder than when placed there eighty years ago.
Kesler's Sulphur Spring is a late discovery by B. L. Kesler, who secured fine sulphur water by drilling sixty feet at Lowell, on the old Wilson Lively place, near the C. & O. Ry. It is very strong of sulphur, and is celebrated wherever it has been intro- duced, quite a quantity now being shipped in bottles, and is being drank for medicinal benefits. The place has never been exploited, and no effort made to introduce it.
The most celebrated spring in the county is the sulphur spring known as Pence's Spring, formerly Buffalo Spring, which is a fine sulphur water; and a great number of guests visit the place each year for pleasure, recreation and recuperative purposes. This spring was known from the first settlement of that region, more than 100 years ago, and was then the resort for wild animals-buffalos, elk and deer-no attempt being made to advertise it until it came into the possession of Mr. A. P. Pence, who built, a few years ago, a commodious hotel, which is crowded every summer to its utmost capacity. This spring is owned by Mr. A. P. Pence. The tract of land on which it is situate contains 283 acres. Another hotel was erected in 1904, in the immediate neighborhood, by Messrs. Car- ney & Blair, two Charleston gentlemen, who drilled wells, which interfered with the flow of the water into the spring of Mr. Pence. Legal proceedings were resorted to, an injunction secured, which was recently determined by the Supreme Court of West Virginia, that the waters of that spring are waters percolating through the soil, and that adjacent land-owners have the right to drill wells on their own land and use the water therefrom for ordi- nary use and purposes, but not to interfere with the flow of the Pence Springs by extraordinary use of the water, or its use for unnecessary purposes. A second injunction was secured by Mr. Pence in 1907, and the suit is now pending.
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
Large quantities of this water are now being shipped to foreign cities and markets, it having peculiar curative powers for certain diseases, especially of the stomach and kidneys. It is situate about a quarter of a mile from Greenbrier River, near Pence Springs Sta- tion, on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, three miles from Lowell, and from the old settlement of Col. James Graham, made about the year 1770.
The next most celebrated spring is that formerly known as Barger's Spring, after a former owner, Wm. H. Barger, the father of our townsman, the merchant, W. A. Barger. It is now owned by a joint stock company, incorporated as the Greenbrier Springs Company, purchased in 1903. In 1904 they constructed a 25-room, three-story frame hotel, which during the season of 1904 was well filled. A number of the stockholders, including Messrs. J. H. Jor- dan, H. Ewart, Jas. H. Miller, A. E. Miller, T. N. Read, R. R. Flanagan, A. G. Flanagan, W. J. Brightwell, E. W. Taylor and W. L. Barksdale, have erected cottages on lots purchased by them, where they spend a portion of the summer. Thirty-two lots have been sold, to this time, to individuals.
It is a beautiful location, immediately on Greenbrier River, near the famous Stony Creek Gorge, where Little and Big Stony Creeks empty into Greenbrier River, near the turn immediately in the rear of the Big Bend Tunnel, and at the base of the Big Bend Tunnel Mountain, and on which is situate the celebrated Turnhole. Stony Creek Gorge can not be excelled for the wildness of its natu- ral scenery. There is located a very high, steep, perpendicular cliff at the point between Stony Creek and the river ; at the point of the cliff has grown a rugged, knotty pine tree. Many years ago a horse-thief, whose name has escaped the memory of the writer, had stolen a horse from some one in the region, and on being pur- sued by the neighbors, came to the mouth of Stony Creek, and being in great apprehension of capture, abandoned his horse, climbed up this tree, scaled the cliff, and, reaching its top, made his escape. The pursuers recovered the horse, but were unable to overtake the thief, not being so agile as to undertake to scale the perpendicular cliff by so dangerous and precipitous a route. There is at this spring a beautiful stretch of water for boating, with two islands in midstream and a natural cave, which has been explored for some distance. This will in a few years, no doubt, be one of the celebrated pleasure resorts of this section of the country.
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